Originally released in November 1993, the Air Jordan IX model was the first model released after Michael Jordan's retirement. Jordan never played a full season of NBA Basketball wearing these sneakers. This model was created in the form of baseball cleats that Jordan used when playing minor-league baseball.

Like the VIIs and VIII model's, the Air Jordan IX featured an inner sock sleeve and nubuck accents. The sole featured different symbols and languages of different countries. The Air Jordan IX has been the shoe chosen to adorn Jordan's feet for his statue outside of the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

In popular culture, in the children's movie The Little Rascals one of the bullies, Butch is wearing a pair of these shoes. American rap icon Tupac Shakur also wore Air Jordans in a popular "Thug Life" photo set in 1993.

The Air Jordan IX was originally released from 1993-1994. It was retroed in 2002, 2008, 2010 and 2012.